Ventura College Academic Senate
Thursday, 15 April 2010.  Campus Center Conference Room

I.	Call to order
This meeting was called to order at 1:37 p.m. The following Senate members were present:
Arquilevich, Gabriel – Communication & Learning Resources
Aubry, Michael – Career & Technical Education
Guillen, Guadalupe - Student Services
Haines, Robbie- Math & Sciences
Hendricks, Bill - Social Sciences & Humanities
Lall, Sumita - Communication & Learning Resources
Lange, Cari – Senate Secretary
Morris, Terry – Health, Physical Education & Athletics
Muñoz, Paula- Student Services
Pauley, Mark- Senate Treasurer

The following guests were present:
Zierhut, Trevor – Associated Student Government Rep.

II.	Approval of minutes
Arquilevich moved to approve 18 March 2010 meeting minutes, Guillen seconded. Motion was approved 6-0-3, with 3 abstaining.
III.	Action items
a.	Spring Plenary Session Resolutions. Guillen and Muñoz agreed that these resolutions are all acceptable as is, no approval by Senate was deemed necessary.
b.	AP 3440—Prohibition of Harassment. Senate members did not receive electronic copy in advance, so no vote was taken. Struck from the agenda.
c.	AP 7120-C—Recruitment and Hiring: Part-time Faculty (first reading). It was noted that Department Chairs worked on this document, and they agreed on all elements in this draft. Morris moved to allow Department Chairs to approve this document without a Senate second reading, Hendricks seconded. Motion was unanimously approved 9-0-0. 
d.	AP 4235—Credit by Examination. Senate members did not receive electronic copy in advance, so no vote was taken. Struck from the agenda.
e.	AP 4110—Honorary Degrees (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Guillen moved to approve, Morris seconded. Motion was unanimously approved 9-0-0. 
f.	AP 4220—Standards of Scholarship (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Muñoz moved to approve, Arquilevich seconded. Motion was unanimously approved 9-0-0.
g.	AP 4222—Remedial Coursework (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Muñoz  moved to approve, Guillen seconded. Motion was unanimously approved 9-0-0.
h.	AP 4225—Course Repetitions (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Muñoz  moved to approve, Morris seconded. Motion was unanimously approved.
i.	AP 4226—Multiple and Overlapping Enrollments (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Haines requested language be changed to read “with instructor’s permission.” Muñoz  moved to approve, Hendricks seconded. Motion was unanimously approved.
j.	AP 4227—Course Repetition Absent Substandard Coursework (first and second reading at request of Sezzi). Discussion ensued about employer requirements that are not legal requirements. Guillen confirmed that counseling department would approve any employer-required course repetitions, even if the repetitions were not legally required. Guillen moved to approve, Haines seconded. Motion was unanimously approved.
IV.	Guest—Robin Calote, 1:56–2:21 p.m. 
a.	Update on accreditation. Work still being done on accreditation, progress being made. Some work remains to be completed. Calote wants campus to see the results one more time. Results will go to Board in June for acceptance in July. SLOs developed last fall on Flex Day are good and generally in compliance with requirements; it is essential that progress be made in this area, since a very large focus of accreditation is on SLOs. 
b.	East campus. Students attending Board meeting were very upset because of perception that the East Campus will be closing. Calote emphasized that this perception is not correct, and that East Campus will not be closing. One year remains on our lease there, and several less expensive options are being investigated for the time after the lease expires. Those options include moving to a local high school campus (logistically undesirable), remaining at current location with upgrades and with a negotiated decrease in rent, or continuing as is. 
c.	Hiring. Calote noted that all “pending funding” faculty positions will be filled. Any holds, if present, are temporary and unrelated to funding. Discussed staying above threshold in required number of full-time faculty positions.
d.	Funding. VC has made the required 5% cuts in funding (reductions from state, step in column, health insurance increases, etc.). High productivity numbers remain a concern, but Calote noted that we have met our goals in this regard already, and that the number will not increase next year. She also noted that Moorpark’s number is higher than ours, so we were not cut in the budget allocation model as badly as we might have been. 
e.	 Furloughs. Calote reported that the District is in discussions with the Classified Union about furloughs as an alternative to layoffs, and that there is no discussion of faculty furloughs at all. Because classified employees have “bumping rights,” eliminated positions do not necessarily mean that the particular people holding those positions will lose their jobs. Calote suggested we all be supportive in what will be an unstable and difficult time. 
f.	Student elections. Calote reminded the Senate that student elections are coming up on the 20th and 21st of April. 
V.	Information items 
a.	Sezzi (via Lange) asked Senate members to remind faculty about Academic Senate Survey. Sezzi needs the results in time to compile data for next Senate meeting. 
b.	Dues drive has not happened this year. Lange requested that Senate members remind colleagues. Sezzi will be distributing flyers soon.
VI.	President’s report 
a.	Board meeting. Sezzi (via Lange) reported that 30 pages of curriculum were pulled from Board meeting agenda to avoid potential conflict in voting. Sezzi believes noted that no response was made from the Board when he complained about inequity in granting of tenure between VC and OC. Hendricks opined that layoffs were not handled well. Sezzi (via Lange) reminded Senate that next meeting will contain study session on text adoptions, and he requested that Senate members elicit feedback from colleagues on the issue. Aubrey noted that he had a very difficult time with an online course in which he was pressured to use a text that, in his professional opinion, was inappropriate for an online course. He urged us to remember that all faculty have freedom to use whatever text they deem best. Guillen suggested we all inform part-time faculty of their rights in this regard. 
b.	Aministrative Council report. Nothing to report.
c.	DCHR, DCSL, DTRW, DCAS, DAWC. 
i.	DCAS. Motion read regarding $5 million spending. (OC Academic Senate agrees with us.) DCAS agreed to allocate to Academic Senate the $5,000 historically used to fund travel to the Great Teacher’s Seminar. In the past, we have used only about $2000 of the $5000 allocated to us but now each Senate will control this funding as opposed to it being controlled by the District. These funds will now be used for Senate travel and Great Teacher’s Seminar travel at each local Senate’s discretion.
 On a separate issue, half of the $100 per faculty fund for conference travel (which totals close to $3000) that is not used this year will be rolled over into next academic year’s pooled professional development fund. 
ii.	DCHR. Muñoz had many questions about the EEOP draft that could not be answered. Issue moved to next meeting.
iii.	DCSL. 
1.	BP 5500 update: Sezzi inserted Nancy’s suggested changes; approved by vote. Senate members requested Sezzi bring or email a copy for review.
2.	AP 4100 update: Jeff Ferguson still reviewing.
3.	Enrollment priorities update: Only 6% students have >90 units; this is not a significant impact on overall enrollment. Move to restrict enrollment priority for these students will probably fail. 
iv.	DTRW. Single reading obtained before Board on curricular matters, approval timelines should therefore be sped up. Discussion ensued about the Board not seeing curriculum matters at its meeting. Senate members deemed this egregious, noted that this could jeopardize accreditation and/or implementation of Fall schedule. Members noted that accreditation team should be notified. It was largely agreed that Trustees should be invited to a future Senate meeting. Further discussion concluded that the Holistic degree is an asset to VC and should not be pulled. 
VII.	Study session—Idea gathering for Title 5 grant with guest, Kathryn Jameson-Meledy. No decision has been made yet regarding approving a Title 5 Cooperative grant. If approved, new grant would need to be different to be funded. Technology-related grants are deemed innovative and fundable. Fact sheet distributed to focus ideas, contained contact information if ideas generated later. Discussion ensued: New grant would not need to tie into curriculum, must tie into student success; “success” must be defined and measurable on this campus within five years. In response to Lall: new grant cannot carry over from last Title 5 grant. Objectives should be tied to existing grant in that case. In response to Morris: cannot be a planning grant, so effects of anti-obesity actions not measurable. Morris pointed out that an anti-obesity grant could involve the purchase of new, technologically superior equipment, thus meeting the fundable technology criterion, but Jameson-Meledy opined that such a grant would not be fundable. Lange suggested development of online labs, making those labs ADA-compliant, and possibly hiring someone to achieve ADA compliance. Lall expressed interest in collaborating. Jameson-Meledy suggested submitting a brief to her, Sezzi, and Calote ASAP. 
VIII.	Campus Committee reports
a.	Core College Design Team. Pauley reported team still at work, focusing on realistic productivity goals. In response to Muñoz: better than killing the productivity model overall would be to remove administrative control. Instead, give departments dollar amounts and goals, then let departments work out how to achieve those goals within budget. Muñoz suggested that 5% for DAC is not proportionally the same as 5% for campuses, and that the DAC should not “take money off the top;” Morris affirmed that such decisions should belong solely to faculty. Pauley reported that the team is working on this. 
b.	Accreditation Team. Current update covered by Calote during her visit.
IX.	Adjournment. This meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.